Hearts Aglow with Thanksgiving
November 23, 2009 • By
"He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me."-Psm. 50:23a (NASB)
This time of year in the South there are still leaves of color all around us and the effect is magical. No matter how busy we are, there's something arresting about the early November brilliance. A small start spreads rapidly until all the world is flaming. It's an exciting time as everything that has been previously sown comes to bountiful harvest. It quickens a thanksgiving response to the splendor and beauty of God's re-creation and redemption at work in our midst--within and without--past, present, and future.
As I drove to church earlier this fall, a shaft of sunlight sliced through morning mist and highlighted a select branch of foliage just coming to autumn color. It was a sweet preview of the magnificence all the leaves around it would soon know.
That's when it hit me. The leaves that turn first are usually the ones positioned to encounter the light. No obstacles, nothing standing in the way. It changes them, ripens them and then they're gone, clearing the way for the leaves underneath to come to the light, change, and also pass away. Eventually the light spreads to the whole tree, and those behind it who may have been in a greater shade.
This caused me to think of an older woman who was a great inspiration in my life. Her influence came at a critical time, which was also very seasonal. In a short while the winds of change took her to a new location and I missed the light reflected from her face. In the void, I had to reach deeper inside for the strength I had borrowed from her, and I found a new light. A transformation process had already begun. Although I missed her, if she had not gone away, I would not have grown. This coloring process is an ongoing adventure and there is beauty in each of the various stages happening to everyone all around us. The miracle is that we are all in it together and what a glorious display!
We can all probably think of a teacher, preacher, parent, or friend whose lasting influence made a profound difference at a pivotal time. We may never know how that translates through us to others, but it does. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people. I bet He'd also be pleased if we passed around some praises to others this Thanksgiving, along with the peas and the potatoes. What a privilege! What a miracle!
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven….He has made everything beautiful in its time.-Ecc. 3:1,11a (NKJV)
--Marcia Swearingen
Marcia Swearingen, a former newspaper editor and columnist, now freelances full-time. Her stories have appeared in Guideposts magazine, several Chicken Soup for the Soul and Cup of Comfort books, the Chattanooga News-Free Press, Chattanoogan.com and other local publications. She facilitates the Writers for the Christian Market critique group of the Chattanooga Writers' Guild and enjoys playing golf with her husband Jim. They have a grown daughter and a new son-in-law!
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